Families

Parenting

Books 4 Bubs

Books 4 Bubs helps promote reading to the babies and young children of extremely young and vulnerable families, resourcing them with books.

Low income and single-parent families are more likely to have poor literacy, which has a downward spiralling effect leading to early school leavers, non-completion of educational opportunities, poor quality jobs, lower income, low self esteem and is a factor that can lead to a high dependency and long term reliance on the welfare system.

Despite the numerous studies confirming that reading to infants not only boosts speech, language development, and overall intelligence, in many parts of our community, babies and children are neither read to nor encouraged to read.

Valuable basic literacy foundations are not established and children grow into adults with poor literacy skills. They then pass this onto their children resulting in inter-generational disadvantage.

Poor literacy is a major issue in Campbelltown and the surrounding areas and it is a dominant factor in preventing people from reaching their full potential.

Our support workers provide families with up to four packs over 12 months. A case worker delivers the books and demonstrates to the mothers/parents how to read to their child and how to praise their child. The worker also introduces other services such as Occupational Therapy that can help develop their parenting skills.

This program is currently operating in the Macarthur region.

YWCA NSW’s Books 4 Bubs program is pleased to be supported by Booktopia, which generously donated 1,600 books to the program in 2012. To find out more, visit www.booktopia.com.au